Senior Lead Machine Learning Engineer – LLM Focus

arrow

Minneapolis / $160000 - $180000 annum

INFO

Salary
SALARY:

$160000 - $180000

Location

LOCATION

Minneapolis

Job Type
JOB TYPE

Permanent

Senior Lead Machine Learning Engineer - LLM Focus

Location: Minneapolis

Salary: $150,000 - $180,000 base + 20% Bonus

Company Overview:

Join a fast-growing, innovative organization at the forefront of artificial intelligence, committed to pushing boundaries in generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). We're solving cutting-edge problems with scalable machine learning and deploying solutions across industries, from finance to healthcare to enterprise automation.

Role Overview:

We are seeking a Machine Learning Engineering Manager with deep expertise in LLMs and production-grade ML systems. This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll oversee a team of up to 10 Machine Learning Engineers, while also contributing technically to high-impact AI solutions.

You'll shape the roadmap for LLM initiatives, drive team performance, ensure technical excellence, and align engineering efforts with business objectives. This role combines engineering leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic execution in a fast-paced environment.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead and manage a team of up to 10 Machine Learning Engineers, providing mentorship, performance reviews, and career development guidance.
  • Define and drive the engineering roadmap for LLM-based solutions and scalable ML systems.
  • Collaborate with research, product, and data teams to align technical execution with strategic business needs.
  • Guide development of ML/LLM solutions for tasks like summarization, classification, Q&A, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
  • Oversee implementation and optimization of transformer models (e.g., GPT, LLaMA, Claude, Mistral).
  • Ensure best practices in model training, fine-tuning, evaluation, and deployment.
  • Build robust ML pipelines with MLFlow, Airflow, or Kubeflow.
  • Manage production deployments using Docker, Kubernetes, and serving frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow Serving, TorchServe, FastAPI).
  • Lead efforts in CI/CD, monitoring, versioning, and model drift mitigation.
  • Promote a high-performing, collaborative team culture and drive continuous learning and innovation.

Required Qualifications:

  • MSc or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.
  • 2+ years of experience managing and mentoring ML Engineers or cross-functional ML teams.
  • Proven expertise in LLMs and transformer-based architectures (e.g., GPT, BERT, RoBERTa, T5).
  • Strong production experience with ML/AI model development, deployment, and lifecycle management.
  • Advanced Python skills and familiarity with libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers.
  • Proficiency with cloud platforms (AWS preferred), Kubernetes, and distributed systems (e.g., Spark, Kafka).
  • Solid understanding of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines for machine learning.
  • Exceptional communication and leadership skills; able to bridge technical and business discussions effectively.

Preferred Experience:

  • Experience building and scaling retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines.
  • Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate) and frameworks like LangChain or LlamaIndex.
  • Knowledge of RLHF, prompt engineering, and generative model evaluation.
  • Experience in regulated or high-security environments is a strong plus.

Compensation and Benefits:

  • Base Salary: $150,000 - $180,000
  • 20% Annual Bonus
  • Flexible hybrid work setup
  • Comprehensive benefits package (health, dental, vision)
  • Annual learning & development budget, including AI/ML conference attendance

How to Apply:

To express your interest in this opportunity, please submit your CV via the "Apply" link on this page. We look forward to connecting with you!

CONTACT

Luc Simpson-Kent

Senior recruitment Consultant

SIMILAR
JOB RESULTS

4k-Harnham_DA copy
CAN’T FIND THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY?

STILL
LOOKING?

If you can’t see what you’re looking for right now, send us your CV anyway – we’re always getting fresh new roles through the door.